Monday, October 12, 2009

the day that i want to forget (part 2)

notice: this is the 2nd part of the blogger's journal on the recent devastation of typhoon ondoy (ketsana) on september 26-27 2009. though based on actual event, some of the people's names, locations, and places were changed to protect their identities.

(continuation from part 1) i've observed the water closely for a minute as it slowly came in through our front door like a shadow of a robber at night. i wasn't moving. i really wanted to panic, but i couldn't. "we're not ready for this," i said to myself.

1230pm. everyone was panicking. there were people running to our porch, mostly neighbors. i saw mothers with their children, babies, lots of babies, and also really old people. i didn't know we had this many neighbors. as they were busy salvaging their things, i was also busy salvaging ours. so many things to save, yet very little time. i thought i was doing everything, though i wasn't doing much. "what should i save first?" i've asked myself. "computer, i have to save my sister's computer!" i exclaimed. i called my sister, gelly, and asked her to disconnect all cables from the back of the computer. then i told her to bring the computer up to my grandmother's room, one by one. i took the microwave oven, toaster, rice cooker, 2 electric fans and an electric grill up to my room. we had a small boom box and a videoke player, but both of them weren't working, so i've decided to leave them. the flood was only ankle-deep and was still about 20 inches away from our enormous television set. "i'll do that later," i said. ten minutes later, the water was already knee deep, and we're still busy salvaging our things. "make sure you get your clean clothes, shoes, and blankets," i told my sister. "wait, i have to check my parents," i said to myself. in my parents' house, more people were coming in. everyone was sitting on the chairs, on the table, the kitchen sink, on the stairs. they're everywhere. i've noticed that my mom's television set was still downstairs and no one cared to take it up. so i grabbed it and took it up to the 2nd floor. my parents didn't have much but i guess they were too busy helping others.

0100pm. i came back to our house after i've checked on my parents. then i came up to my room to tell my student friend, robbie, that the water already entered our house. he seemed confused with what's really happening but i didn't want to scare him. so i told him that everything's okay and that he didn't have to worry about a thing. before i left my room, i've noticed that there was still electricity. "what the..." i yelled. "we're not gonna die from drowning, but we're going to die from electrocution!" ning heard me and she was so brave enough to go the main switch and pull it down to turn it off. the water was only a few inches away from our television. i remembered it being so heavy so i've asked my sister and ning to help me carry it to my grandmother's room. we're running out of time and the water was almost touching the bottom part of the tv. it was hard to take up to my lola's room. the stairs were slippery and it was kind of dark. everyone was exhausted, thirsty, and grasping for air, but we had no choice but to keep on moving. it was so damn heavy, too tiring. i had to save my strength for others, but it felt like i couldn't go on any further. it seemed never-ending. my grandmother got a little upset because ning and my sister's things were crowding her room. her constant nagging made things more complicated for us. we told her that the flood was getting higher and that we had no time to explain things for her. ning and my sister went back down again to get more clothes. ning stood up on a chair and tried to shove up her clothes to a small cabinet, right above our kitchen sink. "why the heck are you putting your clothes up there? get all of them and bring them up to my room!" i ordered. "do you really think that the water would get that high?" ning asked. "we can never be sure, the water has never gone up this high since we've moved here. so please, take them all up before we run out of time to decide." without any hesitation, ning obeyed and brought her things up. gelly was running down the stairs, telling me that she forgot her school diplomas. "oh my word, not your diplomas!" i said worryingly. i checked on robbie again to see if he's doing okay. he seemed fine, i think, just a little worried. i came down again to check on my sister. i only had a minute to check if we've saved everything we need. the electric fans, yes, i had to save them too. so i did. the furniture were too big and heavy so i just had to leave them where they were. the water was already waist-deep and all i could see was panic and fear. i was going to check on my parents' house to see if they're safe, so i went to our door. i thought the door was locked. but i've checked again, it really wasn't, yet the door still wasn't moving. i tried to push much harder and the door opened. maybe the pressure was causing the door not to move. i went out our house and i was greatly surprised. the water on the street was at least 8 feet high. there was no current, although the water kept rising at such a fast rate. it's still raining really hard as i was checking on my parent's house. they've closed their doors and windows but i wanted to go in to check on them. a neighbor opened the door for me and as i've entered the house, strong water also came in with me. "hurry, come in fast. we have to keep the doors and windows closed," my mom said. inside the house, i saw lots of things floating. i saw plates, plastics, papers, door mat, even cups. it felt like i was in a scene of the movie "titanic." it was so terrying.

0130pm. my family seemed fine up in the second floor of our house. they were busy helping the other neighbors. they were making sure they were dry and unharmed. then i remembered. my grandmother was alone in her room and the the water was only five feet away from her room. without wasting a minute, i quickly rushed to her room to check on her. i thought she was a little scared, although she wasn't showing it. her big, fat, fragile body deprived her from moving. she couldn't even see what's happening out the window. i felt that my lola would ask us to do things for her whenever she felt scared and confused and that would make her feel better. "lola, we have to move you to my room." i told her. "what do you mean move me to your room? i'm perfectly safe here. the water will not get that high," she said stubbornly. "lola, the water is getting really high and it is only 5 feet away from reaching the floor of your room. we have to take you to my room for safety." i've explained to her. "i'm safe here and there is no way that i'm going to leave this room," she replied. her obstinacy was making things more difficult. i was quite overwhelmed with urgency and anxiety. i was already starting to lose hope. (continue...)

Grabe nga a, I already went to your place and i belive the house is built higher than usual pero in a couple of minutes pumasok na yung tubig, man.... Buti nalang your still calm, I can imagine your student going nuts on whats happening...

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This blog was inspired by a local travel program called "Travel Time," hosted by Susan Calo Medina. Its blog owner had tried to stay away from work as much as possible, just to do the things he loved the most: photography, video production, travel, and food.

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We'd like to deeply thank all of my blog readers, for my correspondents, for your undying support. Six years of professional blogging wouldn't be possible without your encouragements. My parents, for believing in me. My sponsors and all the people that I've met and made friends with during my travels. To all the people who have helped me during my travels and shared their friendships and experiences, especially to the warm people of sagada for sharing your paradise to us. This blog is dedicated to my Lola Celia, I'll make you proud.